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Drs. Stephen L. Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde Will Work to Genetically Modify
Brain Cells and Stimulate Them with Light in a Process Called Optogenetics

Brooklyn, NY – Researchers at SUNY Downstate Medical Center are among the recipients
of 19 awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF) made to cross-disciplinary
teams from across the United States to conduct innovative research focused on neural
and cognitive systems. Each award provides a research team with up to $1 million over
two to four years. With their award, Stephen L. Macknik, PhD, and Susana Martinez-Conde,
PhD, both professors of ophthalmology, neurology, and physiology and pharmacology
at SUNY Downstate, will seek to restore vision by genetically modifying neurons in
the brain and then stimulating them with light, a method called optogenetics. The
award number is 1734887; a link to the award page is here.

The Downstate researchers explain that evoking high-quality visual perception in a
blind person, via direct microstimulation of the brain, poses great difficulties.
One major obstacle has been that electrical stimulation of the brain typically affects
neuronal populations that are mutually suppressive, which subverts proper neuronal
signaling. The visual system has two antagonistic information channels that encode
either the perception of whiteness, in “on” cells, or blackness, in “off” cells.

Inappropriate coactivation of these two channels results in nullification of contrast,
and deprived visual perception. It follows that high-quality prosthetic stimulation
systems must avoid unwanted coactivation of mutually suppressive neurons, just as
the natural visual system does. This is a challenge because the antagonistic neurons
typically lie within microns of each other in the brain.

To address this problem, Drs. Martinez-Conde and Macknik propose transformative advances
in viral transfection and imaging methodology, computational theory, and cortical
prosthetic neuroengineering design. The expected results and methodology will form
the scientific basis to build a breakthrough neuroprosthetic, with transformative
potential to further brain research in sensory, motor, and cognitive parts of the
cortex, and advance human medicine.

A news release on the National Science Foundation awards is available at the NSF website
here. The awards will contribute to NSF's investments in support of Understanding the Brain and the BRAIN Initiative, a coordinated research effort that seeks to accelerate
the development of new neurotechnologies. To learn more about NSF investments in fundamental
brain research, visit NSF.gov/brain.